What Does God Want?

What does God want from his servants? I have been asked many times over the years; “What does God want from me?” God reveals in His holy Word what he requires from His servants. Deuteronomy 10:12 - 13 (NKJV) 12“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?


I find in these verses 5 things God requires of us.

1. He requires us to fear Him. I believe Christians today do not fear the Lord as our forefathers did. I see Christians saying and doing things that convince me they have no fear of the Lord. God deserves our fear. The fear of the Lord will change your life. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

2. He requires us live according to His will. The Lord has a will for each of our lives. He requires that we find and walk in His will.


3. He requires us to love Him. We need to love him with all of our total being.


4. He requires us to worship Him. He is worthy of our worship. I don’t understand a Christian not wanting to worship the Lord. When we truly understand what the Lord has done for us, how can we not worship Him?

5. He requires us to obey His commands. The Bible from Genesis to Revelation speaks about obedience. God requires obedience! It is impossible to please the Lord without total, complete obedience.


Are you fulfilling these requirements? We should evaluate our lives and if we come up short, why not change today. God told the Israelites Deuteronomy 10:16 “Therefore, cleanse your sinful hearts and stop being stubborn.”

Pastor Larry

Afraid of God's Voice

Do you hear God’s voice? God is always speaking, are you listening? Deuteronomy chapter 5, Moses called the people together and reminded them how the Lord spoke to them on the mountain. Deuteronomy 5:4 (NKJV) “The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire.” Moses stood as an intermediary between the people and the Lord, God spoke and Moses passed the message on to the people.

The people of Israel when they heard God speaking on the mountain they were afraid of His voice. They said in Deuteronomy 5:27 (NKJV) “You go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.’”

The people were content to have Moses listening to God for them. Look at Exodus 20:19 (NKJV) “Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”

If we are not careful we can be just like the people of Israel, failing to listen to God personally. God speaks but we pay no attention to his voice not because of willful disobedience, but because we do not truly love and respect him. We show how little love we truly have for God by preferring to listen to his servants rather then to Him. Today we have available to us as Christians so much literature. There are so many Bibles and study helps and devotional books, Bible software with libraries full of information, yet we Christians are ignorant of the Word. We know what we believe but can we back it up with scripture. This happens when we listen to the servants instead of the Master.

Listen to the Master; I know if you listen he will speak to you right now. Make it your discipline every day to go to God’s Word with joy and ask him to speak to you as you read it. John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

Pastor Larry

Rejoicing Over Decreasing

He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30 (NKJV)

It seems to me that in this world people are searching for greatness. Children, when they are little dream about being a great athlete, or perhaps a movie star or model. As these children grow up and realize their ambitions are not met, they strive for greatness in other ways. As a servant of Jesus Christ our goal should not be our greatness but his greatness. Our supreme goal is to exalt Jesus Christ.

John the Baptist was, by Jesus’ words, the greatest man every born of woman (Matthew 11:11). I would have loved to have spent some time with John. Not during meal time as he had quite a strange diet. I would have loved to gotten to know John’s heart. When his ministry was at its peek, was when Jesus’ ministry was just starting. Chapter three of the gospel of John, describes an event where Jesus and his disciples, and John and his disciples were baptizing at the same time. John describes his role as that of the friend of the bridegroom. He makes a great statement in John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.” These words give us a glimpse into the heart of John the Baptist. John said these words with rejoicing in his heart. John 3:29 says “Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.”

Most people would be sad to see their ministry and influence decrease, but not John. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a friend of the bridegroom. John 3:29 (NKJV) He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.

As the friend of a bridegroom you are not wanting any praise or recognition, you want the bridegroom to get it all. Your joy is fulfilled when Jesus is praised.

Be careful not to rejoice with someone over the wrong thing, but always look to rejoice over the right things. “The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice.” Listen for the Bridegroom’s voice.

Pastor Larry

A Holy Heart Burn

Luke 24:28-35 says: Luke 24:28 - 35 (NKJV) 28Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. 30Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” 33So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

Does your heart burn for the Lord? We need to learn the secret of a burning heart. The disciples on the road to Emmaus were talking about the death of Jesus, when Jesus himself appeared to them. He asked them what they were talking about. One of them named Cleopas answered: “Have you not known the things which happened there in these days?” Then they talked about what Jesus went through. Verse 31 says their eyes were opened and they knew Him. He then disappeared from their sight.

Notice in verse 32 they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us?”
Does your heart burn? When you first received the Lord into your life, do you remember the joy and excitement of reading scriptures and fellowshipping with other believers, and worshipping the Lord. You had holy heart burn. You would hear a new spiritual truths and it would bring excitement to your spirit. The grind of our daily lives can smother the burning of our heart. We need to learn the secret of maintaining the burning heart.

How do you maintain a holy heart burn? The way is by abiding in Jesus. The fire of the heart needs to feed with the fresh Word of God every day. You need to continually feed your heart with the fuel from the Holy Spirit.

I have battled with physical heart burn for years that is not good, but I would not want to live without spiritual heart burn.

Pastor Larry

Listen and Obey

March 26, 2007

Deuteronomy 4:1 - 6 (NKJV) 1“Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you. 2You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. 3Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal Peor; for the Lord your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor. 4But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you. 5“Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. 6Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’

Moses is nearing the end of his life, as he gives final instructions to the children of Israel. He encourages them to listen carefully to all the laws and regulations. Obey them so God can bless them.

He warns them not to add or subtract from them, because they are from the Lord. They are just to obey them.

Listen and obey is still what God is looking for in his servants. It seems that today it is harder to find Christians who will simply obey. A servant’s job is obedience. True obedience requires careful listening.

Maybe today we are not obeying because we are not listening. How do you listen to the Lord? Do you listen to him through others (preachers, books, songs)? Do you listen to him through his Word? Do you listen to him through prayer?

I believe the Lord is always saying something, the question is are we listening.

God is looking to bless you, I encourage you to listen and obey all that he says. Follow the advice that Mary the mother of Jesus gave the disciples when Jesus performed his first miracle. “What ever he says just do it.”

Pastor Larry